China’s JD.com promotes Lei Xu to CEO as founder Liu steps back
(Reuters) -JD.com Inc promoted its president, Lei Xu, to chief govt officer on Thursday to succeed founder Richard Liu, formally handing Xu the reins of the Chinese language e-commerce firm after he carried out the function for a number of months.
Xu, who has labored at JD.com for greater than a decade, will begin the highest job instantly, the corporate stated in an announcement, including that he may also be a part of the board as an govt director.
Xu’s appointment comes as JD.com offers with slowing development, with competitors rising and client spending shrinking amid tightened rules in China which have focused e-commerce platforms.
JD.com has been chopping jobs lately and expanded layoffs in March, in response to native media, as produce other Chinese language expertise corporations which are slashing their workforce to chop prices in a weaker, pandemic-ravaged financial system. JD.com’s U.S.-listed shares have practically halved since their peak in February 2021.
Reuters reported final month that Chinese language web giants Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings are getting ready for layoff rounds this yr that may reduce tens of 1000’s of jobs.
JD.com’s core e-commerce enterprise remained stable and the job cuts have been taking place at its marginal companies, stated Liu Xingliang, president of tech consultancy China Web Knowledge Middle.
“Richard Liu is handing over the baton to Xu Lei, who will maintain the on a regular basis enterprise,” he stated.
Richard Liu, who began the corporate that will change into JD.com in 1998 and some years again had referred to as out what he stated have been “slackers” in his agency, will spend extra time mentoring youthful administration and give attention to the corporate’s enterprise in rural areas.
With 80% of its voting share as per the corporate’s 2020 annual report, and a virtually 14% stake, Liu will stay chairman of the board.
Liu’s management of the corporate turned a spotlight after he was arrested within the U.S. metropolis of Minneapolis in 2018 following a rape allegation. He denied the allegation and was not charged with a criminal offense.
Final September, JD.com had stated Liu would step away from the day-to-day operations, handing these tasks over to Xu and switching his focus to JD.com’s long-term technique.
(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Sophie Yu in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Enhancing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Sayantani Ghosh and William Mallard)
